The Montana Grizzlies came into the Alerus Center on Saturday with a clear goal in mind: to not let what happened last season happen again this year. It was pretty evident they achieved their goal. The Griz routed UND 55-17 in the most lopsided game in Alerus Center history. They looked like a completely different team from last season and it showed on the scoreboard. Montana dominated both sides of the ball and even looked good on special teams as well. UND heads into their bye week with a 1-2 record.
- Total Yards = Montana – 609 UND – 336.
- Once again UND could not get the running game going. They finished the game with 35 attempts for 55 yards. 1.6 yds per carry (sacks included).
- The Montana secondary was much improved over last year. They played tight coverage all game and gave the UND offense nothing easy at all.
- UND is now -5 in turnover margin on the year and have only forced one turnover in three games.
- QB Jordan Johnson has completely changed the Montana offense. They are a machine with the precision passing, quick footed Johnson at the helm and should be a lock for a high seed come playoff time. The EWU game at Montana on Oct. 26 will be a good one.
- Still not quite sure why Montana faked the extra point and ran it in for two when they were up 53-17. Apparently last year’s SIX point win by UND on a last second TD was reason enough to try and pour it on this year with a classless extra point fake at the end of the game. Nice touch.
- Montana was so confident coming in that they kicked off to Greg Hardin every single time, no pooches, no directional kicking, nothing. Hardin never did break one and was contained most of the game, whether it was on offense or special teams.
Enough of the stats, it was ugly and we could lay out stat after stat that proves it. The issue now as we sit here on Monday morning is the complete lack of competitiveness by UND. Once again, UND drove down on the first drive of the game and scored. Boom – 7-0. From that point on they were not even competitive as Montana dominated the last 57 minutes of the game. We are not saying they gave up because it appeared they were trying/hustling but trying/hustling and being competitive are two very different things. Losing 55-17 to a team that you beat the year before, on the same field, is not acceptable. The fans are upset as I am sure the coaching staff is too.
With that being said, now is probably a pretty good time for a bye week. There is a lot of soul searching that can happen this week, if they care to. There are 8 games left with four of those being at home. The season is far from over but efforts like the one on Saturday cannot happen again or the season will be over sooner than it should. Getting beat one-on-one is acceptable – it happens to damn near every player in America. Blowing coverage, lining up wrong, missing tackles, missing blocks, and dropping passes are not acceptable at the FCS level. A couple of those miscues a game – fine. Ten or more a game – not fine.
